WASHINGTON — State Rep. Carl Sherman of DeSoto plans to announce Saturday that he’ll enter the Democratic race for a shot at Sen. Ted Cruz.
That would pit him against U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio.
Sherman set a press conference at the DeSoto town center to make what his campaign described as a major announcement about his political future. Dallas County Democratic Chairman Kardal Coleman, among others, said Friday they expect it to be a campaign launch.
Sherman signaled as much, promising that he would be joined by the mayors of DeSoto and Wilmer, along with Alissa Charles-Finley — sister of Botham Jean, a Dallas man shot and killed by a Dallas police officer — and Lee Merritt, lawyer for the Jean family.
“This will affect the race in a positive way,” Coleman said. “We have a lot of strong Democrats throughout the state, specifically here in Dallas County, who voters are excited to see take on Ted Cruz.”
Sherman, senior pastor at the Church of Christ in Hutchins, represents much of southern Dallas County including Cedar Hill, Lancaster and parts of DeSoto and the city of Dallas.
Allred’s congressional district takes in much of North Dallas and the east side of the county.
But Coleman isn’t worried about the rivals splitting support in their home county, adding that with Allred and Sherman in the race, Black turnout is likely to grow in the primary.
“Primaries are healthy,” he said. “People in Texas, specifically in Dallas County, are ready to see Ted Cruz go home.”
Sherman was elected as DeSoto’s first Black mayor in 2010 and reelected in 2013. He served as city manager in two nearby cities: Ferris in 2015 and Hutchins in 2016.
He won his District 109 seat in the Texas House in 2018. He serves on the Corrections and Land and Resource Management committees.
“Welcome to the fight,” Gutierrez said in a campaign statement. “It’s going to take every single one of us to beat Ted Cruz and get Texas back on track.”
Democrats viewed the growing field as a sign of enthusiasm for ousting Cruz, who barely survived a challenge from former El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke in 2018.
“Long shot races don’t attract as much interest as competitive races do,” said Kathleen Thompson of Progress Texas. “The fact that there are so many qualified candidates shows that Ted Cruz is beatable.”
Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa said Allred, Gutierrez and Sherman are all highly qualified, intelligent candidates.
“We’ve got some outstanding candidates in the race against Ted Cruz,” he said. “This will increase the level of enthusiasm in the primary and that will carry over to the general election.”
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
